


Sacrifice for the greater good

by Kithas



Series: Demon Children Week 2020 [1]
Category: Ava's Demon
Genre: Alien Invasion, Arthropod, Ava's demon - Freeform, Bugs & Insects, Gen, I didn't want to keep doing the same old characters, I hope you like it, I really thought long about how to do this, I will expand on this one next time, Insectoid, Plague, You get "Law Lix" because she's the LIX in range? like the 49th?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kithas/pseuds/Kithas
Summary: She was ready for a riot. The ugliest, bloodiest riot, she would have been fine. But there she learnt there was never one in the first place. It was an infestation.
Series: Demon Children Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726867
Kudos: 3





	Sacrifice for the greater good

It was supposed to be a normal, even boring mission for Law Lix. Secluded in a small moon near a gas giant (whose resources were also being harvested by them), the TITAN institute number three specialized in medical research, trying to improve society by running studies on how to eradicate illnesses. It was nice and clean, at least for Lix, who didn’t bother with all the technical stuff. She was there only to stop those pesky test subjects who apparently had rioted again. Why couldn’t they just understand how their sacrifice made TITAN society better? She did. She knew she was just a soldier, an expendable cog in the machine, and that what mattered was that the idea she stood for, that TITAN would live on, with or without her. To be part of something bigger, something better. A purpose. But no. Those people, for some reason, never got it. Sacrifice for the greater good. Individualists… Despicable.  
But there was something strange about it. A small committee, including the administrative authority and the guard, was due to greet her and brief her into the small details. But, when she left the troopship, the landing dock was empty. “But they’re all here”, she said to the comm. “All the vessels, ready to leave”.

“That’s strange”. The voice of Number Twenty, the comm officer, from HQ, reminded her on her higher purpose. “We’ve only received radio silence from them since you left… Try to reach the governor’s office. It should give you a better look at the place. We’re uploading a map of the place on your MATE”. Veevra was very fond of that “MATE” she had developed, short for Monitoring Adaptative TITANic Exoskeleton. It wasn’t as powerful as the products of _Paradise_ like Strategos Six (TITAN have them in his glory) but it allowed a better and closer monitoring of each unit, giving HQ better ability to design and update its soldiers to the best of their capabilities. The holographic projector on her wrist showed her the basic map of the complex, mainly how her way to the centre of the complex, and Law Lix advanced, weapon at the ready, prepared to take on any ambushes. Why was everything so empty? The message boards, the automatic lights, the empty helmets and clothes around the floor, and that ominous presence she suddenly felt behind her… Only mere seconds would have been to late for that alien to swipe the barbed claw through the place Law Lix was supposed to be on. The warrior, who had dodge rolled the surprise attack, didn’t hesitate to shoot, filling the air with the smell of burnt flesh. The humanoid creature screamed, its body split, and, unfolding another pair of claws from its torso, lunged to her again, screeching for her head. Lix shielded herself with the other arm, while taking aim again, and a few seconds and a flash of blinding light after, Lix stepped bag, and the monster’s body fell to the ground again having lost its head. Lix rubbed her forearm, where the bug had scratched the armor, leaving a gash in the plating, but it was small enough, and there wasn’t any pain. Then, she looked at the dead bug.

Because it was a bug. Its exoskeleton was chitinous enough, segmented, and with two pairs of arms, if one could call that “arms” instead of some mix between club and claw. Its eyes, before being blown to bits, were big and compound, like an arthropod’s, and it was the same as with the antennae. – This is very strange… - Law Lix murmured, poking the body with the sharp end of her weapon.  
“It must be a test subject”, the Number Twenty answered, looking through her front camera. “You know, from one of those Outer Rim worlds, one of those with, say, peculiar biologies”  
\- So much so. – Law Lix turned the body with her weapon. – But it isn’t the strange thing though… But the fact that that is a finger. You know, a mammal finger in an insect body. I have a bad feeling about this.

“So do I”.

The next area, once she left the passageway, was the main plaza. A supposedly beautiful place intended to let everyone’s minds at ease when they got to the complex, be it as a scientist or as a test subject. A beautiful fountain, a neat garden made by TITAN’s technological advanced, and, oh, the body pile right right under TITAN’s mandatory statue. – Oh. – Law Lix swallowed hard. “Well”, Number Twenty sounded like she also had a dry mouth. “We were right”. It wasn’t the corpse pile the most worrying thing. It was the big, hungry, humanoid bug, carelessly feeding off one of the bodies.  
She was ready for a riot. The ugliest, bloodiest riot, she would have been fine. But there she learnt there was never one in the first place. It was an infestation.  
For now, she held her breath. For now, the only sounds in the plaza, covered under the light blue dome, were the munching sounds made by the bug. Silently, she took aim at it. And then, she shot his ugly head off its shoulders.  
Or, at least, it was what it was supposed to happen. But the humanoid roach moved in the last second, and the shot bounced off its elytra harmlessly with an electric sound. Then, the creature turned… And it looked at her. It had no proper pupils, but compound eyes like all arthropods, but somehow, Law Lix _knew_ it was looking at her. And then, it spoke.  
“Speaking of the devil, right?” Could bugs laugh? This one certainly did. Its mouth was still dripping from the blood of the bodies. “Long time no se… TITAN”.  
\- I am not TITAN. – Law Lix tried to control her nerves. What was about that bug that made her feel so bad? What was that aura of dread? – But I will gladly kill you all in his name, scum.  
“So you say”. The monster said. “Let’s see how you try”. Then, another bug fell right next to the first one. Then, another, right next to it. Then, another. Then, another. Slamming against the ground, the bugs started falling all around Law Lix. And then, the fight broke.

Wrong. It would have been wrong to call it a fight, as it would have been wrong to call them an army. It wasn’t an army of bugs trying to violently off Lix Law; it was a bunch of insects swarming their prey. But she didn’t relent. She shot their faces, one by one. Exploded their guts. Dodged, and showed them how she was first in her promotion in martial arts. The buzzing soon filled the room, as did the burning smell of fried insect. One, two, three… With the MATE system enhancing her physical qualities, he could pull off one of the bugs’ arms, using it as a secondary weapon to fend off more monsters. A grenade went off, taking many bugs with it, but by then another fifteen monsters had taken their place. Monsters upon monsters fell off the ceiling, rushing to attack the brave TITAN soldier who had gotten herself between the wall and a particularly high flower bed, making the bugs’ unable to corner her and overwhelm her. Because there too many. Too many bugs to be just a test subject, too many bugs to be a special invasion like the ones from Silent Scavengers. Something was not right. Something on Lix’ subconscious screamed at her that it was so, so wrong. Some tattered blue trousers worn by the insectoid whose chest she had just tore a hole through, the remains of a lab boat around that recent corpse that was trying to bite her arm off… She tried to make herself space, but it was too much, too intense to think, and by the time a second grenade allowed her to finally take a breath, a body came flying right across the smoke.  
It was the first one. The bug that spoke to her, the one that still seemed to have hair on its head, the one with actual elytra and wings, functional wings, and who tried to slash her across the smoke. Once again, she rolled and tried shooting him with no avail, all while the bug screamed. “You tried to keep me here for life! To use and abuse my body, to poison it! You left me alone with this monster, with this devil! Now I have become the devil! You tried to feed off me, TITAN! But now, I am the one that is going to feed off you!” It lunged at Lix with its four arms spread, but the soldier made him retreat with her weapon’s butt. No. The bodies were everywhere, she thought. She was killing bugs left and right, but, to what end? Were the enemies getting thinner? The monsters kept falling from TITAN-knew-where, and she kept getting cornered. No, she couldn’t do this alone. This was a full well invasion. She needed reinforcements. She needed a safe place.

A grenade managed to get her some breathing space, and she got to jump through the bugs, firing her weapon, turning around to the same passageway she had come from. She ran, without thinking, only holding to her weapon, and to the open wound from the first confrontation. She ran without listening to those insectoid steps behind her, too abundant to be counted. – What the hell is going on. – She muttered. – What the hell is going on…  
“Yeah!” Number Twenty recovered the connection. “Yeah, I know! It doesn’t make sense! By all accounts, he should be long dead!”  
\- Long dead? – Lix turned around without stopping. A big mistake: The monsters were far nearer than she expected. – What in TITAN is going on?!  
“That funny guy you crossed sights before!” the comm officer said. “The flying bug! It was King Locust! The legendary pirate who probably inspired what we know as Silent Scavengers! I don’t know the details right now, but the file is clear! King LeGaup Locust, it had one of the biggest ever-growing armies of its time, and even gave TITAN a run for its money. But it says here that it was confirmed dead like fifteen years ago on the other end of the galaxy!”

How would knowing that her target (or the one whose target she was, to be fair) was a dead king of scavengers a decade before didn’t exactly help Law Lix’ situation right now, but she already knew what she had to do. She left the passageway just when the bugs were about to reach her, and didn’t even think before entering back into the troopship and locking the doors shut. King Locust’s bugs slammed against the ship, but it was in vain. She allowed herself to laugh, while holding her injured forearm. – TITAN killed you once, bugs. – She said, looking at them through the port holes. – And TITAN will kill you all again.  
She went to the cockpit, with every intention of reprogramming the onboard computer to direct her to the nearest TITAN system. She would gather reinforcements, redact her report to the HQ’s, and conform an action plan before getting back there. That was what she would have done, if the onboard computer hadn’t stopped her right on her tracks. – Now, this is weird. It’s denying me access to the navigation system. Hey, Number Twenty? Think you can give me a hand from your side? We need to take off before those bugs actually get to open the ship. – Her only answer was silence. A silence only broken by the red light denying her access to the computer. Then she realized. The bugs had stopped, too. – Er… Number Twenty? Beth? Are you there?  
“…Yes, Law Lix”. The voice came slightly distorted. It wasn’t anything to worry about. “What was your query again?”  
\- Look, I need to get out of this moon. I’ll round up some reinforcements on a base, come back, and…  
“We’re sorry, Law Lix, take off from your location isn’t allowed for any unauthorized lifeform at the moment. The planet is currently under quarantine”  
“Yeah. Yeah, I know, Beth. I was the one sent to investigate this quarantine, remember? Now, this is slightly bigger than we thought. We need more soldiers to subdue the enemy, just let me out of here, come on!”  
“We’re sorry, Law Lix, take off from your location isn’t allowed for any unauthorized lifeform at the moment” The voice repeated.  
“That’s the point” Lix’ voice trembled. It wasn’t Beth. It wasn’t Number Twenty anymore. “I. Am. Not. Unauthorised”  
“Due to special quarantine measures issued in your location, any lifeform suspected sporting biological corruption will have its authorization revoked. If you have any doubts about your status, please locate your nearest TITAN medical officer and direct your questions to them.  
“Biological corruption? What…?”  
“Bioscanner from the MATE system shows biological corruption currently spreading around the body. Please, remain calm. An ALPHA Strike TITAN team will arrive shortly with new instructions.  
“That… That isn’t right. Please”. Law Lix held to her hand, that hand that had been wounded from the beginning, the gash that went straight through the armor. She didn’t have time to think about it before, but now it was clear that the hardness she felt was not just a byproduct of the suit, or adrenaline. It was product of that chininous growth around its fingers, and its wounded forearm. It was a product of that corruption that had started growing inside her mere minutes before she stepped outside the ship. “There must be something that can be done”.  
“ _ **There is**_ ”. A familiar male voice answered the comm. One that gave her shivers. “ ** _Right now an expert medical team is closely monitoring your vitals, registering real time every change, every stage of the transformation so the process can be better understood_** ”. Now real tears were going through Law Lix’ cheeks. “I ** _t will give them excellent analysis data for development of a vaccine. Soon, King Locust’s army, one born from illness, will be just some memory buried under the people like you who can aspire to serve to a higher purpose. So, do you want to know what can be done, my little mouse?_** ” TITAN himself asked. “ ** _Take one for the team, and tell us how you feel_** ”.


End file.
